Microsoft Edge on Android could soon get extensions to tempt you away from Chrome

Will browser extension support be enough to tempt Android users away from Google Chrome to the welcoming arms of Microsoft Edge? We might soon find out, as it looks like Edge is now prepping extension support for its mobile app.

This comes from some digging into the Edge for Android code by tipster @Leopeva64 (via 9to5Google). For now the functionality is hidden behind a flag in the early testing versions of the app, but it could reach the main app as early as March.

Certain extensions – for switching to dark mode, for blocking ads, and for changing the speed of media playback – are already showing up on a rudimentary extensions page, which is another sign that the feature is launching soon.

From the screenshots that have been posted so far, it looks as though a new Extensions button will be added to the menu that pops up when you tap the three horizontal lines, down in the lower-right corner of the Edge for Android interface.

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Extended features

Firefox extensions

Firefox recently added extension support to its Android app (Image credit: Future)

You may well know how useful third-party extensions can be on a desktop browser, adding all kinds of additional tools and features to your browser of choice – from changing the way tabs are arranged, to letting you annotate webpages, to managing website volume.

While there are a huge number of extensions available for Chrome on the desktop, Chrome and other browsers have typically shied away from adding extension support on mobile, for a host of different reasons: the screens are smaller, there are fewer system resources available, the interface is simpler, and so on.

Now though, the situation is changing. Firefox recently reintroduced extension support in its Android app, and now it looks as though Edge will follow suit – in an attempt to try and chip away at Chrome's market share. Chrome is the default on around two-thirds of mobile devices worldwide, though that includes iPhones as well as Android devices.

You won't be able to use all the existing Edge extensions on Android – clearly not all of them will work, and the developers will have to adapt them for the different platform – but watch this space for these add-ons arriving on Microsoft's browser.

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Pour one out for MSN Messenger, Zune, and more: Microsoft Graveyard gives a salute to the tech giants’ retired creations

Microsoft is an old (in tech terms, at least) company – and a very successful one at that, but not every product it makes is a success.

For every Windows 7, there's a Games for Windows Live. Every Microsoft Office, there's a Clippy.

To help people reminisce and revisit memories of Microsoft products gone by, a group of developers and tech enthusiasts has made an open-source site named Microsoft Graveyard

If that rings a bell, that’s probably because you may have come across Killed by Google, a similar website made by Cody Ogden, another developer and tech enthusiast, but for deprecated and discontinued Google products. Ogden made an analogous website for Microsoft products named Killed by Microsoft, and that heavily inspired the creation of the Microsoft Graveyard. 

Welcome to the (unofficial) Microsoft Graveyard

At Microsoft Graveyard, you can peruse the various products, services, apps, and other creations that Microsoft has launched and ended up ditching – both software and hardware. 

There’s plenty to reflect upon, as many people who have been using computing or mobile products for any portion of their lives have probably come across at least a couple of these. I know I have, and there’s also lots to learn about many of Microsoft’s attempts at innovation through the years (Microsoft Graveyard’s entries are in chronological order). 

The unofficial archive of discontinued Microsoft products was made by Victor Frye and a community of Microsoft enthusiasts, launching last week. The group calls the website “a passion project built because we have lovingly used many of these products before their untimely death.” You can read about products like MSN Messenger, Kinect, and many more. MSN Messenger (also known as Live Messenger) was a cross-platform instant messaging (IM) program used by many kids who grew up at the early stages of the internet as we now know it, and Kinect was a motion sensing gaming controller that was killed off just last year.

Go down memory lane for yourself to read about things like Windows Phone, Zune, the recently “deceased” Cortana, Clippy, and many more. Each entry is headed up with the name of the product, which links to a page where you can find more detail about it (sometimes a Wikipedia page). That followed the product’s lifespan and a paragraph description of the product. 

Clippy

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Go and see it for yourself, maybe even get involved

When you visit the website, you might notice that the first handful of entries are dated into the future and the icons are coffins instead of gravestones. That’s to indicate the Microsoft products that will be joining the rest of the discontinued “dead” products on the list in the near future. This includes products like Windows 10 (which still sees minor tweaks and updates), the Xbox 360 Store, and others. 

If you’re intrigued, I’d urge you to check out Microsoft Graveyard for yourself. As it’s an open-source project on GitHub, you can actually join the fun of compiling, contributing to, and maintaining the website. You can also follow the project’s ongoing development and updates on Threads

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Windows 11 bids farewell to WordPad as Microsoft axes longtime favorite (oh, and Cortana)

Microsoft finally gives its iconic WordPad app the chop as a new Windows 11 Canary build reveals that the long-time word processing app’s time is up. The Canary channel is one of four release channels in the Windows Insider Program, Microsoft’s community that gives testers, developers, and enthusiasts access to try out new versions of Windows and new features to gather feedback and improve them before releasing them to the wider user base. 

In WordPad’s place, Microsoft is directing users to use Microsoft Word to work with rich text files, which feels a little cheeky (more about that in a moment). 

We found out that WordPad was being deprecated a little while back, and now Microsoft is making good on its promises. The company elaborated that no new WordPad developments were being worked on at the time of the announcement, and that future Windows 11 releases wouldn’t include it – which is what has happened with the latest WordPad-less Canary build. 

Microsoft also revealed that the WordPad and People apps won’t be included by default upon a clean install of Windows 11, and you’ll no longer be able to reinstall WordPad at a later date.

Man typing on laptop

(Image credit: Chase Chappell/Unsplash)

Users react

This development comes with a tinge of melancholy for many Windows fans because it has been one of Microsoft’s flagship programs for a long time. For many users, it was their preferred choice for a basic and straightforward simple rich text editor, being included in nearly every version of Windows starting with Windows 95. 

Microsoft recommends “Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt” for users who would like to know what to use instead. 

Of course, the full version of Microsoft Word is part of the Microsoft Office suite, which isn’t free, so recommending a paid-for alternative to a free app they’ve just cut probably won’t go down too well. A much better alternative is LibreOffice Writer, which is part of the free, open-source LibreOffice suite – although I can imagine why Microsoft would be hesitant to send people to a free rival app.

The newest preview build, Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26020, also saw a move that was long expected from Microsoft – giving Cortana the chop. If you’ve already forgotten what Cortana is (or, rather, was), Cortana is Microsoft’s previous effort in its mission to create a personal productivity assistant. 

Now, it’s leaving Cortana in the past and trucking forward with Windows Copilot, its newer and fresher take on the all-purpose digital assistant that’s powered by AI. According to Tom’s Hardware, Microsoft is so keen to make Copilot a hit (unlike the rather unpopular Cortana), it is now requiring partner keyboard manufacturers to have a dedicated Copilot key. 

A final bow for WordPad – or is it?

To some, this move reminds them of when Microsoft wanted to ax Windows Paint. Many users were incensed, which is understandable, in my opinion, as I think Paint is one of the best apps ever made. In the case of Paint, Microsoft actually listened to users’ outcry and made the app available for download from the Microsoft Store. Since then, it’s been developed and upgraded for Windows 11, and even getting its own AI assistant named Cocreator

It’s speculated that if there’s enough uproar about WordPad’s departure, Microsoft might consider doing something similar for WordPad. WordPad is a quality, solid app that’s simple and straightforward, installed by default, quick to load and get going, and offers more features than NotePad for simple text editing. 

It’s safe to say many users are lamenting WordPad’s exit and are hoping it’ll be made available as an optional download. I guess we’ll have to see if Microsoft is actually interested in continuing to give users the option to work more simply and without unwanted AI features, or if it really is committed to dropping popular basic apps in pursuit of its vision of an AI-powered future.

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Microsoft has finally updated Sticky Notes in Windows 11 – and I’m excited about my favourite feature getting a lot smarter

Microsoft could finally be updating the Sticky Notes app for Windows 11 (and Windows 10), after years of seeming neglect.

Sticky Notes is a pre-installed app from Microsoft that allows users to put virtual sticky notes on the desktop to help remember tasks or make to-do lists across their devices linked to their Microsoft account. While it’s an app that can be easily overlooked (even by Microsoft), for those of us who use it – such as myself – it can be an incredibly useful tool for staying organized and productive.

As Windows Central reports, the Sticky Notes social media account has just put out an intriguing update, hinting at some big updates coming to the app in the near future. With the last official post from the account dating back to 2020, this sudden burst of activity suggests that whatever the changes are in store – they’re going to be big. 

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Microsoft has been pumping out a steady stream of updates for Windows 11 and Windows 10, and rumors of a big 24H2 update slated for later this year, suggest huge changes are coming to Microsoft’s latest operating system. Even ancient pre-installed apps like Microsoft Paint and Notepad have received some positive updates in the last two years, so it’s refreshing to see the Sticky Notes app finally get some love and attention. 

The recent post from the Sticky Notes account doesn't give out too much information, teasing only that we should expect one of the “biggest announcements yet” for the feature. The account also responded to some initial speculation from excited users clarifying that the news is not a web app – for now. Instead, Windows Central is speculating that it could have something to do with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and I agree- here’s why.

Working smarter, not harder 

Sticky Notes seems like quite a basic feature at the moment, which means it's ripe for getting new AI features – something Microsoft has been incredibly keen on lately. Its close partnership with OpenAI (the company behind the popular ChatGPT AI bot), and continuing mission to integrate its own AI bot, Copilot, into almost every facet of Windows 11, means Microsoft already has the tools and knowledge to give its older apps some AI brains.

This is exactly what happened with the iconic Notepad app, which recently got ChatGPT-powered AI features, turning the once basic word processing app into a rather cool and useful tool that can help you with your writing – and all for free, due to it coming pre-installed with Windows since the 1980s.

There are a lot of positives that can come out of combining the simplest tool on your desktop and the ‘smarts’ of ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot coming together, especially as the Sticky Note app works across your devices. 

However, things could also go sideways and Microsoft might end up bloating and overcomplicating an app users enjoy for its simplicity and reliability. Sticky Notes is one of those apps on Windows that just works; you know what you’re going to find when you unbox a new PC and you always know exactly what your virtual sticky notes will look like. A big change like the social media account suggests could turn a lot of loyal users into disgruntled ones if Microsoft ends up making the Sticky Notes feature far too complicated. Plus, not every user will be thrilled to have artificial intelligence bleed into such a basic app (and the security and ethical issues that surround AI). 

I love Sticky Notes and while I’m on the fence about how these ‘big changes’ will affect one of my favourite Windows features, I do ultimately think it will be a good thing. We could see exciting updates that could allow people to create collaborative Sticky Notes on their desktop, have the AI draft shopping lists out of desired recipes, and comb through emails and calendar apps to create a daily to-do list or schedule. 

While I do think the Sticky Note app doesn’t need the upgrade, there is the concern that it could be left behind if it’s not brought up to speed. AI-powered features, if done well, will not only retain its existing fans like me but also encourage new users to discover the app – and maybe even fall in love with it.

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Windows 11’s Snipping Tool could get new powers for taking screenshots – but is Microsoft in danger of overcomplicating things?

Windows 11’s Snipping Tool is set to get a handy feature to embellish screenshots, or at least it seems that way.

Leaker PhantomOfEarth discovered the new abilities in the app by tinkering with bits and pieces in version 11.2312.33.0 of Snipping Tool. As you can see in the tweet below, the functionality allows the user to draw shapes (and fill them with color) and lines.

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That means you can highlight parts of screenshots by pointing with arrows – for an instructional step-by-step tutorial you’ve made with screen grabs, for example – or add different shapes as needed.

Note that this is not in testing yet, because as noted, the leaker needed to play with the app’s configuration to get it going. However, the hidden functionality does seem to be working fine, more or less, so it’s likely that a rollout to Windows 11 testers isn’t far off.


Analysis: A feature drive with core apps

While you could furnish your screenshots from Snipping Tool with these kinds of extras simply by opening the image in Paint, it’s handy to have this feature on tap to directly work on a grab without needing to go to a second app.

Building out some of the basic Windows 11 apps is very much becoming a theme for Microsoft of late. For example, recently Snipping Tool has been testing a ‘combined capture bar’ (for easily switching between capturing screenshots or video clips), and the ability to lift text straight from screenshots which is really nifty in some scenarios.

Elsewhere, core apps like Paint and Notepad are getting an infusion of AI (with Cocreator and a rumored Cowriter addition), and there’s been a lot of work in other respects with Notepad such as adding tabs.

We think these initiatives are a good line of attack for Microsoft, although there are always folks who believe that simple apps like Snipping Tool or Notepad should be kept basic, and advanced functionality is in danger of cluttering up these streamlined utilities. We get where that sentiment comes from, but we don’t think Microsoft is pushing those boundaries yet.

Via Windows Central

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Microsoft is adding a Windows 11 feature that makes accessing your phone’s photos even easier

A new feature is coming to Windows 11 that will make transferring screenshots from your phone to your PC much easier. Thanks to testing being done by Microsoft, you should soon have the ability to access and edit your screenshots from your phone directly on your PC.

The Windows Insider Program for Developers is a channel that receives experimental builds of Windows 11 that represent any upcoming updates or new features that Microsoft plans to implement in the near future, in order to gather feedback before pushing features to the public version. 

When enabled in the Dev Channel, the Windows 11 Build 23619 now has a ‘Cross-Device Experience Host update’ that will replace the existing Phone Link feature, using this new feature instead to connect your phone and your PC.

Once your phone is connected, every time you take a screenshot on your phone a little pop-up will appear in your desktop notifications. You’ll then have to option to view, edit or share your screenshot straight from your PC.

Simple and smooth sharing 

I’m pretty excited for the feature to officially arrive in the public build of Windows 11, as it takes the hassle out of sending your photos to your PC via either a cable, messaging service or cloud storage service in order to edit them. At least once a week, I have to email myself screenshots from my phone to open on my computer, so it’ll be incredibly time-saving to simply have a little notification pop up on my desktop instead that I can choose to ignore or open and get to work. 

This feature will also be really good for those of us who might not be as technologically adept or are just in a hurry to transfer a new photo. It’s much easier to explain to someone who might need help that if you connect your phone to your PC using this feature you can simply take the screenshot and the pop-up will automatically appear, rather than explaining a lengthier step-by-step process to them.

It’s always good to see Microsoft continually working to improve Windows 11 – especially given some people’s unwillingness to upgrade from Windows 10. This update also came with some useful fixes, such as squashing a bug that caused crashes when you change voices in Narrator in Settings, and more work to improve the performance of File Explorer.

Via Betanews

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Watch out Windows 11 users: Microsoft may be sharing your Outlook emails without you knowing – here’s how to stop it

It looks like Microsoft’s penchant for collecting its users’ data may get it in more trouble, with a worrying new report suggesting that it's sharing more information from emails sent by the new Outlook for Windows app than people may know.

This is particularly concerning as most people check their emails daily, to keep up with friends and family, or send important documents and information at work, and with the Outlook for Windows app now being the default program for emails in Windows 11, this discovery could impact a lot of people

MSPoweruser reports that the team behind ProtonMail, an end-to-end encrypted email service and competitor to Microsoft Outlook, has discovered the worrying scale of user data being collected by Outlook for Windows, which reportedly includes your emails, contacts, browsing history, and possibly even location data. 

ProtonMail’s blog post goes so far as to call Outlook for Windows  “a surveillance tool for targeted advertising”, a harsh comment, certainly, but people who downloaded the new Outlook for Windows app have encountered a disclaimer that explains how Microsoft and hundreds of third parties will be helping themselves to your data. 

It seems like the majority of the data is being used primarily for advertising purposes, with users having to opt out of sharing their data for each of the 772 companies manually. This means that by default you may be sharing a heck of a lot of information, and if you wish to opt out, the process is time-consuming and annoying. 

Here we go again … 

Microsoft has a rather dubious past of being quite greedy with user data. This time last year you might remember our report detailing serious privacy concerns users had with Windows 11, with the PC Security Channel uploading a YouTube video that demonstrated that before you even connect to the internet or open an app, Windows 11 was collecting and sending data to Microsoft – and possibly third-party servers.  

That being said, we should remember that ProtonMail is a direct competitor of Microsoft’s email apps and services, and the team behind it would be very keen to direct criticism at Outlook for Windows. ProtonMail is a service dedicated to user privacy and keeping users' email (as well as calendar, file storage, and VPN) encrypted, so we do have to keep in mind the team’s motives for highlighting this, as the company would want to make its privacy and security look much better than Outlook. 

We also have to consider the fact that Outlook for Windows is a free app, so you could argue that Microsoft can support the app and continue adding features by providing user data to paying third parties.  Regardless, while you can technically opt out of the data sharing, it’s still cheeky of Microsoft to have the opt-out option be a per-advertiser toggle click rather than a simple ‘reject all’ button. But, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. 

Opt out as fast as you can!

If all of this has you concerned and itching to opt out entirely, we’ve got you covered. Head over to the General section of your Outlook for Windows settings and you should see an option called ‘Advertising Preferences’. When you click that you’ll see a large list of company names and toggles near their name set to ‘enable’. 

Unless you create a brand new Outlook email, from what we can tell there’s no single button that will deselect all of them, so you may have to set some time aside to sit down and deselect them all. Each advertiser has an option for you to read more about their privacy policies, and once you open that you’ll see another option to opt out. 

Microsoft Outlook

(Image credit: Future)

I created a new Outlook email account just to test it out, and the option to reject all did pop up when Outlook for Windows first opened, and I also have the option to deselect all the advertising preferences at once in the Settings page as well, though that might not appear for people who have already set up the app with an existing Outlook account. 

If sharing our data by default is the price we have to pay for free apps like Outlook for Windows, at least Microsoft seems to have made turning off that sharing easier than ProtonMail’s team have made out. Still, this shows that it’s well worth paying attention to user agreements and disclaimers for free apps, especially from Microsoft, so you know exactly how much of your data you’re sharing – and who has access to it.

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Microsoft tests feature for Copilot AI that remembers your past chats – and it could enrage privacy activists

Microsoft is trying out another feature for Copilot which could prove controversial, allowing for users to turn on personalization for the AI, tailoring its responses based on previous chats.

Windows Latest discovered the feature in Copilot – which, despite being officially renamed to that, is still referred to as Bing Chat in some menus – and has had a play with it.

When the option for personalization (in Settings) is turned on, the AI uses insights gleaned from your chat history to “make conversations unique to you” the feature blurb states. Elsewhere Microsoft mentions that it’s recent conversations which are referred back to, although how far back it goes isn’t made clear.

Windows Latest gives us an example scenario where you have chatted about learning French with Copilot, and then you start a new topic on learning software. Copilot might then suggest apps that help in your quest to learn to speak French.

This feature is only available to some Copilot users, and it seems Microsoft is still testing the concept. According to feedback online, some users have seen the functionality come and go from their Copilot AI.

Windows Latest highlights a further addition into the mix for Copilot, namely a ‘Search on Bing’ option that appears when you hover over a message in the chat. If your query isn’t satisfactorily dealt with by the AI, this allows you to easily fire up a web search as a follow-up.


Analysis: Double-edged sword?

Personalization could be regarded as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, additional context is going to be useful for making the AI come up with material more relevant to your needs. On the other hand, it brings up questions about how far back in the chat history Microsoft combs, and issues related to that data – is any kind of personal profile being built here beyond the limited nature presented (i.e. recent chats only)?

We’d assume not, but this is an idea that’s been floated on online forums (like Reddit) before now, and folks are always going to be paranoid around the privacy of these kinds of features. And that’s not surprising, really, given the amount of data hoovering and profiling big tech companies engage in on a broader level.

Notably, Microsoft has felt the wrath of EU regulations of late, interfering with the software giant’s plans for Copilot considerably, and meaning the AI hasn’t been deployed to European users yet, while legal wrinkles are ironed out. That involves not just work on Copilot, but other changes in Microsoft’s products elsewhere (some of them relatively radical like removing Bing’s hooks from the search box in the Windows 11 taskbar).

Speaking of Bing, the new integrated search option for Copilot is a useful extra, though we don’t expect any option to change the search engine being used will be forthcoming (of course). Bard has a similar built-in ‘Google It’ capability, it should be noted, which has been in that AI since its launch, so Microsoft is playing catch-up here.

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Microsoft reveals new Copilot Pro subscription service that turbo-charges the AI assistant in Windows 11 for $20 a month

Microsoft is taking Windows Copilot to the next level with Windows Copilot Pro and bringing Microsoft 365 Copilot to businesses of all sizes. 

Windows Copilot and 365 Copilot are Microsoft’s newest AI digital assistants to help users with all kinds of tasks and projects that we were introduced to last year, and they’re getting a major boost with higher-tier AI functionality. 

Microsoft is officially debuting Copilot Pro, available for individual users to subscribe to for $ 20 per month (per user) starting today January 16. 

This version of Copilot will allow individuals to upgrade their productivity and user experience with the best Copilot has to offer in terms of AI features, capability, performance speed and being able to access Copilot at peak times. 

This will also grant users with a Personal or Home subscription access to Copilot Pro in Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, OneNote, and available for PowerPoint on PC, Mac and iPad. This is similar to the existing Microsoft 365 Copilot made for enterprise customers, which requires an enterprise subscription, but now these Copilot AI capabilities will be available to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers as well. 

The crème de la Copilot on offer

If you choose to sign up for Copilot Pro, it will grant you priority access to the latest OpenAI models, like the state-of-the-art GPT-4 Turbo from OpenAI, and enable you to build and tailor your own Copilot GPT bot to a topic of your choosing. 

Copilot Pro will give users greater agency in how and what they Copilot Pro by allowing them to toggle between models and try out different options to optimize their experience. 

Users will be able to build and mold these personalized Copilot GPTs in a brand new Copilot GPT Builder (similar to the commercial version launched last year) by answering some straightforward prompts, and Microsoft assures us it’s coming soon. 

You can also look forward to an upgrade to the AI image generation from Microsoft with Image Creator from Designer (formerly known as Bing Image Creator). With Copilot Pro, you’ll get one hundred boosts (accelerated image generation processes), greater image detail and quality, and the landscape image format.

Along with the introduction of Copilot Pro for individual use, Copilot for Microsoft 365 will be available to more types of commercial customers, particularly small- and medium-sized businesses. From now on, there’s no employee minimum, lower prerequisites, and more availability of Copilot subscriptions through Microsoft partners.

New upgrades to Copilot and a new Copilot app

Copilot imagery from Microsoft

(Image credit: Microsoft)

For those users that want to continue experimenting with Copilot for free, there’s something to watch out for as well. The free version of Copilot is getting Copilot GPTs that allow you to customize and tailor a Copilot that you can discuss a particular topic of your choosing. Today you should be able to see some of the topics already available, such as fitness, travel, cooking and more.

Along with these developments, Copilot is getting an iOS app and an Android app, and Copilot is coming to the Microsoft 365 mobile app. With these new apps, you’ll be able to have a single AI run across your devices, able to analyze information from your web usage, your PC use, and the apps you use to make its help more context-specific.  

The Copilot app is equipped with the same powerful tools that the PC version benefits from, such as GPT-4, Dall-E 3’s image creation capabilities, and the ability to input your own images into Copilot and have it respond to them

Copilot will be added to the Microsoft 365 app on both iOS and Android devices over the course of the next month for users who have a Microsoft account, and these users will be able to export the content that they generate as a Word or PDF document. Microsoft’s vision for this is that you’ll be able to summon Copilot almost instantly, as soon as you need it, and no matter what device you're currently using.

Microsoft is just getting started

It also looks like there are plenty more Copilot Pro features in the pipeline – similar to how we’ve seen multiple improvements to the standard version of Copilot in Windows 11. Divya Kumar relayed this while speaking to The Verge, referring to Microsoft’s recent release schedule as a “rolling thunder.” 

With Copilot Pro, Microsoft is aiming to catch the attention of “power users like creators, researchers, programmers and others” that might be interested in the latest innovations that it, with its collaborator OpenAI, has to offer. 

Microsoft has recently overtaken Apple as the most valuable company in the world, and it’s not showing signs of losing steam. Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, claims that Copilot empowers “every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” If there’s a reason that you might want or even need assistance or advice digitally, it’s clear how eager Microsoft is to be there to meet it.

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CoPilot Pro leak suggests Microsoft will soon make you pay for its ChatGPT Plus features

Microsoft has spent billions on integrating ChatGPT into its Copilot AI assistant for Edge, Bing and Windows 11 – and a new code leak suggests it could be planning to claw back some of that investment very soon.

As spotted by Android Authority, some new Edge browser updates for Android contain several code references to a 'Copilot Pro' tier that isn't yet available. Right now, Copilot (previously called Bing Chat) is completely free and, as Tom's Guide recently noticed, even gives some access to the latest ChatGPT model, GPT-4 Turbo.

But those days could be numbered if Copilot Pro does become a reality. The code contains references to a “pay wall upsell” option, which suggests that Microsoft is planning its equivalent of ChatGPT Plus. The latter currently costs $ 20 / £16 / AU$ 28 per month.

Those strings of code discovered in Edge also give us hints of what kind of features a Copilot Pro subscription might give us. These include access to the newest AI models (in other words, ChatGPT's GPT-4 Turbo), priority server access, and “high-quality” image generation.

While it seems likely that a free Copilot tier will continue to be available, the days of Microsoft giving us quite so many free AI perks, then, could be drawing to a close.

Plus points

Copilot in Windows

(Image credit: Microsoft)

The arrival of a ChatGPT Pro subscription has always been a matter of when rather than if, when you consider how much its costs to run an AI assistant on the scale of Microsoft Copilot. In the case of ChatGPT, some estimates suggest the computer hardware costs could be as high as $ 700,000 a day.

This is why ChatGPT launched its Plus subscription in February 2023 – and, a year on, it looks like Microsoft Copilot Pro could soon be following in that paid model's footsteps. 

Unfortunately, that could mean the free version of Copilot becoming a bit dumber, as that version currently gives you access to ChatGPT's latest models and also Dall-E 3 image generation. 

Hopefully, some of Copilot's current restrictions, like being limited to 300 conversations per day, will also be eased in the Pro version. While we don't yet know when this Copilot Pro tier might launch, it looks like we could find out very soon.

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